Second Day of Shooting:

The second day of shooting as eventful... to say the least. The day right after we shot the scenes in my room we went to a park nearby called Peace Mound Park. Lucia chose this location because she knew the place, and she knew not a lot of people went there, which was perfect for us since we needed to be in a place with a lot of trees at night.
Before going to the park we made sure that we checked the weather and the time the sundown was. However when we got there around 8pm there was still a lot of light outside so we waited in the car. Around 8:10pm we got out with the tripod, bag, and shovel, and started walking towards an area that we had previously seen.
Lucia was carrying the bag and shovel when a woman passed by and saw us, she was so freaked out (as anyone would be when seeing someone carrying a shovel and a big black trash bag), so she actually started running away from us. Lucia and I just bursted out laughing because it did seem like we were doing something wrong, and that is a moment I will remember forever.

A picture of inside the car waiting
for the rain to stop

Anyways, when we got there we filmed the first shot and it immediately started raining :( . We ran back to my car and waited for around an hour, but the rain did not stop. Defeated, we went home. We decided that instead of filming after sundown, we would film before the sunrise. The next day, I picked up Lucia around 6:30am, and we went again and finally finished filming.

During this process I learned several things. First , to even though you check the weather, it can be unpredictable, and always have a back up plan. Also, to make sure to waterproof your equipment (the tripod and my phone got really dirty and wet). In addition, we learned how to adapt our film to the adversities we faced. In the end, I really like how the opening was shot during the sunrise because usually in most thriller films about homicides a murderer hides the body at night.

Props:

Hey guys, so I want to talk very quickly about the props that we used for the project. I have already mentioned a little about this during the mise-en-scene post, but I wanted to specifically explain each prop used. In the beginning of the film we used a black trash bag filled with pillows that Lucia will be carrying. This is to infer that she is carrying the body of the victim. In addition, on her other hand she will be carrying a shovel which will allow her to hide the "body". In the second part of the film, Lucia will be putting on red lipstick, this is meant to represent the blood of the victims. Since we decided to not show any blood, we thought the red lipstick would be the perfect item to symbolize blood. Then, the bow and arrow next to the cute pink chair is supposed to demonstrate the contrast of her two personalities.

First Day of Shooting:

So I wanted to share my experiences during our first day of shooting the film. First of all we decided to shoot the second part of the video first since it was easier because it would be in my room. In addition, Lucia would play the main character and I would be the director because Lucia has a little more experience on camera since she previously had a youtube channel, and also because I was the one who know how to work the tripod.


We decided to put the tripod in a way that we could film the mirror and Lucia, and the mirror would not be seen. At first it was hard finding that position, specially because my room is somewhat small, and I have a very big bed that takes up a good portion of the room. As I was filming Lucia sometimes I had to jump back and forth on my bed to get the shot and angle that we wanted.  Also we had to rearrange my room a couple of times so we could get the mise-en-scene just how we wanted the room to look like.

This is me getting the camera in the position that I wanted to film the scene

I think that this first day was very helpful because I got comfortable shooting and using the tripod and directing Lucia what to do, and Lucia got comfortable in front of the camera.

Mise-en-scene:

Hey guys!
After researching more about film productions I learned the importance of mise-en-scene, so let me talk to you about the different things my partner and I did to create the perfect set for our film. Before filming anything, we had to be very specific of what will appear on screen and how. For the scenes that would be in the main character's bedroom. We first started by cleaning up my room :), then we decided that  the main character will be putting on red lipstick, and to show that she has a very cute and girlie personality, she would have a lot of make-up close by.  In addition, We managed to switch my mirror to where my dartboard used to be and vice versa. We wanted to put the dartboard close to my pink chair, because we would place Lucia's bow and arrow next to that chair. We wanted to make it seem like the main character had a lot of experience in archery, further implying but not actually stating the weapon for the murder. Also, we decided to put the dartboard and bow and arrows close to the pink chair not only because the main character would be sitting there in the film, but also to show the contrasting images of something very girlie (the pink chair) with the tough and intimidating images that comes to ones head when one thinks of archery.
Below are some images of the set:

The green circles show the key elements
of the set which are the make-up and
the bow and arrow

Shows the shows that the main character
will be putting on during the opening
scenes

Production Name:

Like any good film production company, Lucia and I thought it would be cool to create our own company name. After some research we found out that the name should be related to the type of genre the films one produces are usually about. For this reason, ours had to be thriller related. After some talking and based on what our film opening will be about, we decided to go with the name "Dead Flower Productions". We both agreed that the name was interesting and fitted well with the story that we will be portraying. Which is the story of a pretty girl that is doing something that is wrong. The flower symbolizing the girl, but and the word "dead" showing how inside the girl is not "pretty".

Above is a preview of what will be added in the film and show "Dead Flower Productions", I feel that this will add to the overall feeling of suspense to the opening scenes. I am glad that we found this program called "VideoScribe", which allowed us to create this sequence and animate the name. This way it creates a more realistic feel to this film.

I totally recommend using this application for animating even the most simple tasks:

https://www.videoscribe.co/en/

Citations:

Tatiana. (2017, June 20). 50 Film Production Company Names. Retrieved from https://reelrundown.com/film-industry/production-company-names

Voiceover:

Like I mentioned before, my partner and I decided to have a voiceover narrating during the opening scene. We decided to do this mainly because of our research in the importance of voiceovers in films.  Voiceovers are successful in any type of genre of film. Also, filmmakers use voice overs to  tell stories, narrate, and provide an intimate look into the mind of a character. For this reason, it creates a connection between the character and the audience. Some examples of movies that utilized voice over narrations successfully are for example: Lovely Bones, Memento, etc.

Which is exactly what we want to create with our film. In addition, this way the audience can clearly understand what we want to show and portray in these opening sequence. However, we must be careful so the narration does not spoil too much, and makes sense without taking the excitement out of the film. Because of this we want to create a juxtaposition between what the audience hears and sees. This way it will keep the narration interesting yet relevant to the story.

Citations:

Mendez, J. J. The Importance of a Professional Voice Over in an Explainer Video. Retrieved from http://go.yumyumvideos.com/blog/professional-voice-over-in-animated-explainer-video

Voice Over and Its Use in Film. Retrieved from https://ctlsites.uga.edu/nvgf/ethans-article/

Equipment:
In order to film the different shots that we want to create for our film, we had to carefully choose our equipment, but also keep in mind that we do not have a lot of money to spend. For this reason, we used a tripod that my father allowed us to borrow for the time we were shooting. Also, we used my iPhone since is a newer version compared to the one my partner Lucia has.

This is the tripod we used to film everything, and also allowed us easily film pans and tilts. In addition, we could adjust the height of the tripod, so it could fit any position.